Evaluation of intelligent quotient (iq) to low birth weight and very low birth weight middle and late childhood children born term and preterm

Abstract

Introduction: the National Population Council in Mexico reports that in 2015 there were 2,251,731 births of which around 5-12% were preterm, around 188,469 to 337,759 were considered LBW , this is a serious public health problem because of all the cognitive sequelae and IQ complications associated to LBW and prematurity. There is no Mexican data in this issue. Objective: determine the IQ and some neurocognitive problems associated with LBW, VLBW and prematurity in middle and late childhood children (8-13 years old) when academic requirements are bigger. Material and methods: WISC-IV was applied to 31 middle and late childhood children (male and female). Apgar scale was considered ( minute 5). Results: around 33% of LBW, VLBW or preterm children had IQ deficit , it is 8% more than it is reported in the theoretical normal curve, around 13% was extremely low versus 2.2% that is expected. The Apgar scale was not a predictive influence in the results. The verbal comprehensive index was reported with a 29% deficit, the perceptual organization index was reported with a 26% deficit, a 35% of deficit was shown in the working memory index and processing speed index had around 45% deficit ( compared with peers). For some reason these children were bullied by their school mates. Conclusions: we only found a 33% IQ deficit in LBW, VLBW and preterm children, unlike other authors that report around 50 to 71.42% deficit in this population. It is necessary to have further studies as well as determinants of bullying.